A message from Patriarch Alexy II to Anthony Blair, Prime Minister of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Together with many clergy and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church I am shocked by the terrorist actions committed in London.

I am sure that what has happen will become for every one of us a formidable reminder that the existence of evil forces capable of killing civilians cannot be tolerated. Otherwise the tragedies which killed people in New York, Moscow, Madrid, Beslan, London will be repeated again and again in various parts of the world and nobody will be secure against them.

In face of the threat, we should be united in the same measure as we united sixty years ago for the sake of victory over nazism. To this end we have to give up all the secondary differences and interests and forget forever about 'double standards' with regard to terror and its victims.

Today I mourn for those who were killed in the British capital city. I pray to the Lord for the healing of the injured. And to British soldiers, law-enforcement people, doctors and all those who seek to alleviate the consequences of the outrage I wish God's help.
May the Lord help us to defeat the evil of terrorism together. May He grant peace to His people, protecting them from every evil deed.